Electronic Arts Inc. is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. EA delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones and tablets.
Lead Development Director
At BioWare, our mission is to create worlds of adventure, conflict, and companionship that inspire you to become the hero of your story. Our teams inspire creativity using tech and tools such as the Frostbite engine and work with thousands of developers across EA’s network of studios. We are passionate about games and their potential as a creative medium to reach and inspire people through emotion, artistry, and engaging storytelling. If you share this passion, this is an amazing opportunity to help shape the next generation of gaming.
BioWare is looking for an experienced and passionate Senior Development Director to provide operational leadership for our next Mass Effect title. You will report to the Project Director.
Responsibilities:
- Responsible for creating and validating project schedules that meets the requirements of the game team; discuss and create consensus on project resource requirements, workflow and milestones;
- Identify project risks through regular monitoring of production status, team morale and communication channels; call out project risks and create mitigation plans before they become an issue;
- Manage change request process by clearly communicating to project stakeholders the nature of the change request, the cost of changes and the prioritization of the changes;
- Monitor and adjust capacity plans for multiple projects/teams to address skill gaps and identify funding needs
- Provide leadership and mentorship to team members through regular 1:1s and weekly team meetings;
- Reward and recognize top performers through quarterly team performance review, promotions and salary adjustments while identifying and assisting low performers in improving their capabilities;
- Implement process improvement plans across full projects or multiple teams
- Anticipate and solve dependencies between the project and also external groups
Qualifications
- 10+ years total of game development experience with 5 years in project management and 3 years in managing a development team;
- Strong communication skills across all levels of an organization including negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution;
- PMP Certification an asset;
- Experience in distributed development is a big plus;
- Desire to build partnerships and are the kind of person that people want to work for and work with.
- Exceptional knowledge of product planning and execution, with a deep understanding of game development.
- Excellent change management skills, can embrace ambiguity and meet commitments.
- Great problem-solving skills, and ability to motivate others to find solutions in new situations and dynamic environments.
- A bias for action and experience with predicting issues before they come up.
- Passion to build teams and a great culture, fuelled by empathy.
About EA
At Electronic Arts, we exist to Inspire the World to Play. We create extraordinary new game experiences for our millions of players everywhere by bringing together talented people that combine creativity, innovation, and passion. We know that our strength lies in the diversity of our people. We immerse our employees into an inclusive culture, and provide opportunities for learning and leading that allow them to do the most impactful and rewarding work of their careers. We put our people first. We provide comprehensive benefit packages with a focus on health and wellbeing to support your needs and help you balance your career and personal life. We provide access to dynamic and collaborative work environments, opportunities to connect and contribute through our Employee Resource Groups, and support for a balanced life with paid time off and new parent leave, plus free video games and so much more! Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Electronic Arts also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.
